Realm Runners

CHAPTER TWELVE: The North Fortress

20

AUG/11

The party opens the double doors and sees a stone bridge extending across the deep chasm to the northern fortress. Megilwath feels a slight tremble in the ground, slowly growing bigger and bigger until the others can feel the tremors as well.

They decide to push across the bridge as fast as they can. Aces and Megilwath reach the door at the other end and notice movement inside, something is taking aim at them with a crossbow like device. Megilwath drops a globe of darkness on both he and Aces and a bolt zips between them. Aces attempts to break through the door but it’s too solidly built. Suddenly a crash is heard somewhere down in the cavern below them. A huge draconic form is headed towards them out of the darkness, as it draws closer it appears to be skeletal, a dracolich, it sweeps just under the bridge the party is on, and with a roar dissapears into the black again.

After they shake off the horror, and attempt to understand what just happened, Mentathenis uses Mage Hand to reach inside the doors and release the locking bar. Aces throws open the doors to find a few Duergar Guards, a Duergar Theurge and a couple animated arbalesters.

The five charge into the room and fight, after a particularly bloody battle with Aces being knocked unconscious twice, they narrowly emerge with their lives.

They take a quick breather before moving on around the western wall of the complex. When throwing open another set of doors, the party sees a ghost white skinned man peering from behind a third set of double doors, he attempts to shut them, but before he can, Megilwath throws his dagger through the narrowing crack and sticks the man in the shoulder. He yelps in pain and the dagger returns to Gil’s hand. Aces charges down the hallway and throws open the doors to a recreation room full of 4 orcs and an ogre. The pasty man is nowhere in sight.

Aces backs up and the ogre charges down after her. The orcs fall in behind and begin throwing their handaxes. Krushi and Mentathenis take advantage of their opponents’ tight grouping, and rip through them with a couple Chaos Bolts and A Shock Sphere.

Aces holds off the attacks while Megilwath throws his dagger from cover and The Maven plays some ear bleeding notes to throw the evil creatures off guard. Before long the ogre falls and one of the orcs escapes through a set of Iron doors in the recreation room. The other three orcs shortly follow the ogre in death.

Again the group attempts to take rest while searching the area. They find another portcullis that leads back into the Labyrinth, and in a side chamber, they discover a solid wooden chest. When Megilwath fails to pick the lock, and Aces is unable to bust it open by force, The Maven tries her hand at fiddling with the lock picks. Being a jack of all trades, she pops it open with ease. Contained within is 40 gold and 3 gems.